A Curse upon the Nation

Race, Freedom, and Extermination in America and the Atlantic World

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book A Curse upon the Nation by Kay Wright Lewis, University of Georgia Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kay Wright Lewis ISBN: 9780820351261
Publisher: University of Georgia Press Publication: August 15, 2017
Imprint: University of Georgia Press Language: English
Author: Kay Wright Lewis
ISBN: 9780820351261
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Publication: August 15, 2017
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Language: English

From the inception of slavery as a pillar of the Atlantic World economy, both Europeans and Africans feared their mass extermination by the other in a race war. In the United States, says Kay Wright Lewis, this ingrained dread nourished a preoccupation with slave rebellions and would later help fuel the Civil War, thwart the aims of Reconstruction, justify Jim Crow, and even inform civil rights movement strategy. And yet, says Lewis, the historiography of slavery is all but silent on extermination as a category of analysis. Moreover, little of the existing sparse scholarship interrogates the black perspective on extermination. A Curse upon the Nation addresses both of these issues.

To explain how this belief in an impending race war shaped eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American politics, culture, and commerce, Lewis examines a wide range of texts including letters, newspapers, pamphlets, travel accounts, slave narratives, government documents, and abolitionist tracts. She foregrounds her readings in the long record of exterminatory warfare in Europe and its colonies, placing lopsided reprisals against African slave revolts—or even rumors of revolts—in a continuum with past brutal incursions against the Irish, Scots, Native Americans, and other groups out of favor with the empire. Lewis also shows how extermination became entwined with ideas about race and freedom from early in the process of enslavement, making survival an important form of resistance for African peoples in America.

For African Americans, enslaved and free, the potential for one-sided violence was always present and deeply traumatic. This groundbreaking study reevaluates how extermination shaped black understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and the political, social, and economic worlds in which it thrived.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From the inception of slavery as a pillar of the Atlantic World economy, both Europeans and Africans feared their mass extermination by the other in a race war. In the United States, says Kay Wright Lewis, this ingrained dread nourished a preoccupation with slave rebellions and would later help fuel the Civil War, thwart the aims of Reconstruction, justify Jim Crow, and even inform civil rights movement strategy. And yet, says Lewis, the historiography of slavery is all but silent on extermination as a category of analysis. Moreover, little of the existing sparse scholarship interrogates the black perspective on extermination. A Curse upon the Nation addresses both of these issues.

To explain how this belief in an impending race war shaped eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American politics, culture, and commerce, Lewis examines a wide range of texts including letters, newspapers, pamphlets, travel accounts, slave narratives, government documents, and abolitionist tracts. She foregrounds her readings in the long record of exterminatory warfare in Europe and its colonies, placing lopsided reprisals against African slave revolts—or even rumors of revolts—in a continuum with past brutal incursions against the Irish, Scots, Native Americans, and other groups out of favor with the empire. Lewis also shows how extermination became entwined with ideas about race and freedom from early in the process of enslavement, making survival an important form of resistance for African peoples in America.

For African Americans, enslaved and free, the potential for one-sided violence was always present and deeply traumatic. This groundbreaking study reevaluates how extermination shaped black understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and the political, social, and economic worlds in which it thrived.

More books from University of Georgia Press

Cover of the book How Far She Went by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Anglo-Native Virginia by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Charleston and the Emergence of Middle-Class Culture in the Revolutionary Era by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book We Want Land to Live by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Love, in Theory by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Everyday Life in the Early English Caribbean by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Borges's Poe by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Catfish Dream by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Slavery in the Caribbean Francophone World by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Generations in Black and White by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book The Line of the Sun by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book The Black Panther Party in a City near You by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Study in Perfect by Kay Wright Lewis
Cover of the book Empty Sleeves by Kay Wright Lewis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy